Arkansas adopts US's most restrictive abortion law

My use of the legal definition was merely to answer your
question. It is difficult to know when a baby is its own life form, so I
provided the legal definition. "Viability" is used as a determiner
because up until that point, it is not a fully developed life form.

As to the 8-month fetus abortion--such abortions are extremely rare and are
only granted under extreme circumstances. The decision to perform a late-term
abortion is made when the choice must be made between the life of the mother and
the life of the child. At that point, it's not a choice to murder, but a
decision as to who's life to save. In a medical sense, the choice usually
comes down to which life they are more likely to be able to preserve.

As to a neonate, yes they do require constant care, but they are also fully
functioning on their own. You dismiss the importance of the change of location,
but up until that point, they are inside the mother--the question is when this
part of her body ceases to be hers alone. As in real estate, location is
everything.

JSBSugar City, ID

March 8, 2013 11:10 a.m.

@ OHBUThe laws can say what people arbitrarily want them to say for their
own convenience in order justify selfish, irresponsible behavior. For years,
laws justified slavery. Why should “viability” be the criteria for
whether or not a person can be legally killed?

At what point a fetus
is able to survive outside its mother’s womb is a moving target. Using
your definition, then aborting an 8 month fetus (which is legal) is murder since
it could survive outside its mother’s womb. Also, since a full term
neonate can’t survive without constant care; isn’t it also a
parasite? Changing its location doesn’t change its need for care and
nourishment.

Equating a tumor with an embryo is a stretch. The
embryo is a separate being. It has its own separate DNA; its own separate
circulatory, nervous, skeletal, etc. systems. It is nourished through the
placenta which is a mutually joint operation between the mother and child.
Unlike a tumor, the mother’s blood and circulatory system are not part of
the baby’s circulatory system.

To be continued:

Tolstoysalt lake, UT

March 8, 2013 10:22 a.m.

@calbrodeMedical science makes no claims as to when life begins.science
has remained neutral on the issue.

CalbrodeVernal, Ut

March 7, 2013 11:00 p.m.

Science overly proves that life begins at conception....but, science can only be
used to support Liberal agenda.

There You Go AgainSaint George, UT

March 7, 2013 6:30 p.m.

"...There is nothing more sinful to me than killing an innocent
person...".

Falsely accused/convicted yet innocent people on
death row in Arkansas would agree with you.

JoeBlowFar East USA, SC

March 7, 2013 6:22 p.m.

Joe Blow, to what poll do you refer?

JAN 22, 2013

A new
NBC/WSJ poll finds that, on the 40th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s
Roe v. Wade decision, 70 percent of Americans want the landmark abortion rights
ruling to stay. Only 24 percent would like Roe v. Wade to be overturned.

TOOSanpete, UT

March 7, 2013 5:21 p.m.

This is good news. It's my philosophy that if you think you're
responsible enough to have relations, you should be responsible enough to pay
for the consequences. If you think you can pay off a million dollar house,
don't get mad at the bank when they come to take it if you can't make
your payments.There is nothing more sinful to me than killing an innocent
person--yes person. People talk about pro-choice. That baby can't choose.
How selfish can a human being be?

Tolstoysalt lake, UT

March 7, 2013 3:51 p.m.

and not a sorry

Tolstoysalt lake, UT

March 7, 2013 3:29 p.m.

@red actually states law does not trump federal law and any state law that
violates federal law is null a void sorry but that is the law. Utah could save a
lot of legal fees if our state government could just learn this one very basic
fact about how our government works.

Nan BWELder, CO

March 7, 2013 2:33 p.m.

JSB, I agree with you, but I think that what Arkansas leaders have accomplished
is worthy of commendation. Joe Blow, to what poll do you refer? Anyway, murder
is murder and why should it be legal when we know that taking the life of
another is wrong? I can see no justification for taking the life of an innocent
unborn unless the mother's life is in danger (I've known of that
happening) or there is some other truly exceptional circumstance. Don't
tell me that I don't know what it is like to have a pregnancy under
difficult circumstances because I have been there, long ago, and it definitely
didn't ruin my life. I may have even learned something valuable!

OHBUColumbus, OH

March 7, 2013 2:26 p.m.

JSB,

In the legal sense, your question has already been answered.
The fetus is considered a viable human being as soon as it is able to survive
outside of the mother. Up to that point, it is more a part of the mother than
it is an independent being. In a literal sense, up to that point the baby is
nothing more than a parasite (not in the pejorative sense the term is typically
used).

Is the fertilized egg metablizing? Yes. Does a cancerous
tumor metabolize? Yes. Metabolism is not an indicator of whether or not
something is a viable form of life If you're simply concerned that
it's alive, then why stop at conception? Sperm are alive as well, should
they be granted rights and protections?

In short the answer to your
question is quite simple: the baby is a human being as soon as it becomes an
independent entity. Before that point, it is fully part of the mother's
body and it is therefore the mother's right to determine what to do with
it.

By the way, nobody is pro-abortion any more than someone who
believes war is sometimes necessary is pro-war.

JSBSugar City, ID

March 7, 2013 12:10 p.m.

Why 12 weeks? At what point in human development does a person become a human
being? I've asked this question many times and no pro abortionist has ever
been able to coherently answer it. At the point of conception is the zygote
alive? Is it metabolizing? If so, what species is it? And, if you kill it, why
isn't it murder?

JoeBlowFar East USA, SC

March 7, 2013 10:45 a.m.

The country OVERwhelmingly favors keeping R v W.

That includes GOP
members also.

This is according to an NBC/WSJ poll.

Why do
lawmakers feel that they have the right to go against the will of the people?

RedSalt Lake City, UT

March 7, 2013 10:10 a.m.

Good Job Arkansas!

Some of these states thinking murdering their kids
is just fine.

Utah needs to step it up.

Also, States
rights trump Federal nonsense all day long. Utah should ban murder.

sorry to all you people out their trying to convince yourselves that murder is
ok as long as the baby is still living inside the mother.

The guilt
you are trying to rationalize must be eating you up.

OHBUColumbus, OH

March 7, 2013 8:40 a.m.

Part of being fiscally conservative means researching these issues and not
passing symbolic bills that are bound to be defeated in court, costing hundreds
of thousands of dollars. Even if the state has lawyers volunteer their time,
when they lose (which they will, the Supreme Court has already ruled on the
issue) they will be ordered to pay all court costs and attorney fees for the
plaintiffs.